Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Brings A Weird Villain And His Weirder World To The Big Screen
Potential spoilers (but nothing you haven't seen in the trailers) follow.
The central villain of James Gunn's "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3" is a figure called the High Evolutionary played by Chukwudi Iwuji. As his name implies, the High Evolutionary is hellbent on directing evolution toward an ill-defined peaceful, perfect society. Using Dr. Moreau-like surgery, and 1993-era-"Super Mario Bros."-style hyper-evolution pods, the villain has been altering kidnapped Earth mammals, transforming them into the humanoid citizens of his own constructed planet called Counter-Earth.
Visually, Counter-Earth is a parody of Earth. The High Evolutionary admired Earth's art and infrastructure but hated its ignorance and bigotry. His goal is to recreate Earth, but populated by genetically enhanced animal people with no propensity for crime and violence. He doesn't lay out the parameters for his experiment, but it involves building entire planets, seeding them with an entire civilization of billions, and then plowing up the planet if he spots an error. He has created and killed untold numbers of animal people.
The emotional crux of "Vol. 3" will be the High Evolutionary's treatment of Rocket Raccoon (voice of Bradley Cooper), a little animal that he enhanced using surgery and machines. Rocket, along with the other mutilated animals kept in his lab-animal cage, are gentle souls that retain hope and laughter while living in squalid, horror movie conditions. If you are sensitive to seeing the mistreatment of animals in movies, maybe skip "Vol. 3."
Much of the film takes place on Counter-Earth, and the Guardians spend a lot of time interacting with the animal people. Gunn gave the Counter-Earth sequences a palpable "Planet of the Apes" vibe that lend a hair of satire to his film. For brief flashes, things feel weird.
Counter-Earth
When the Guardians of the Galaxy first arrive on Counter-Earth, they land in what looks like a typical, modest suburb. The citizens wear gentle, 1980s-fashionable clothes, drive average cars, and water their lawns. They all just happen to have outsize animal heads. The Guardians end up in the care of a family of bat people who will serve them soda, and who will lend them their car.
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the suburb of animal people hardly looks unusual, seeing as the series has already traveled to the Quantum Realm, to Mount Olympus, to magical pocket dimensions, and into "The Amazing Spider-Man 2." It's when the Guardians are in an average-looking living room, drinking blue fluids, and having conversations with bat people that the satire of the scenario leaks through. The High Evolutionary's Counter-Earth is a twisted parody of Earth, a place where everything looks normal, but something is ... off. It's the same effect one might experience seeing apes on horseback for the first time in "Planet of the Apes." This is human society, turned on its head.
Sadly, the animal suburbs section is only a small part of a 150 minute movie, so the true weirdness of the situation doesn't fully sink in. But it is at least there to be discovered. "Vol. 3" is not "The Guardians Visit Animal World," but a larger story besides.
The High Evolutionary himself is also a strange character who seems to wear a mask of human skin and who has a long and storied history in Marvel Comics.
The High Evolutionary
As previously explained in the pages of /Film, the High Evolutionary was created in 1966 as a villain for a "Thor" comic. Initially, he was a human doctor who was obsessed with eugenics, and who used an evolutionary machine to grow his own brain. So equipped with a new mind, he outfitted himself with purple armor and became a supervillain obsessed with creating advanced animal men. Yes, it's likely he was inspired by H.G. Wells' 1896 novel "The Island of Dr. Moreau."
In cinematic form, the High Evolutionary appears to be a space alien who has been doing his evolutionary work for many years, possibly even centuries; it must take a long time to build an entire planet and populate it with animal people. He aims to create the perfect society, which, fittingly enough, stands counter to the Guardians' philosophy of living with found families and finding value with other outcasts. Because he's also the mad scientist who created Rocket Raccoon, he has a whiff of a "mad scientist from the 1950s" vibe to him.
The weirdness of the High Evolutionary comes less from the character himself — he cackles and screams like a typical supervillain — but from the results of his plans. His animal people are bizarre to behold. His enforcers are animal skins that have been draped over grotesque robotic skeletons. One of his personal bodyguards looks like a pig that is in the middle of being disassembled by an automated abattoir device. The steps on the way to the High Evolutionary's perfect society will pass through horrible animal machines that would feel at home in "Saw."
That's not something Kang has been doing.